Someone finishing a stamped-flower tutorial might want another stamping project, help coloring the image, or a list of supplies. A menu item called “Blog” doesn’t tell them where to find any of those. Give visitors a few clear routes into the site, then offer narrower choices once they get there.
On a cardmaking site, navigation is more than the row of links across the top. The main menu points to broad areas; section pages, breadcrumbs and links inside tutorials help people keep going. Each has a different job, so you don’t need to squeeze every post into the menu.
Start with the paths visitors actually need
Before choosing labels, jot down a few things visitors come to do. A new maker may need a first card project. Someone who owns alcohol markers may be looking for coloring techniques. Another reader may want to browse light-up cards, while a potential customer needs information about custom cards. They all arrive at the same site, but they need different routes.
Try those tasks yourself, starting once from the homepage and once from a typical tutorial. Where does the next step become unclear? You may need a prominent menu link, a narrower choice on a section page, or just a link in the post. This check also helps keep the main menu from turning into a list of everything you’ve published.
Give the main menu a manageable job
For many cardmaking blogs, a short menu might include Start Here, Tutorials, Techniques, Materials and About. If you take commissions, Custom Cards could belong there too; a hobby-only blog doesn’t need it. Use labels that make the first choice predictable, even if they aren’t these exact ones.
Look at what sits beneath each label. “Techniques” could lead to stamping, stenciling and marker coloring. “Materials” could hold practical guides to paper, ink and adhesives. “Inspiration” is harder to interpret if it mixes tutorials, reviews and personal updates. When two items seem to promise the same pages, give them clearer roles or combine them.
Leave individual holiday projects and narrow methods out of the main menu unless they’re a lasting, substantial part of the site. A Valentine’s card tutorial can live on a seasonal page without taking up a permanent top-level slot. Light-up cards might deserve one if readers seek them out regularly and the section has enough projects and basics to be useful.
Choose between a flat menu and a dropdown
Use a flat menu if the main destinations fit comfortably on screen. A dropdown helps when its parent groups related choices—for example, “Techniques” with Stamping, Stenciling and Marker Coloring underneath. Give the parent a useful landing page of its own rather than making it only a switch for the submenu.
Pay extra attention to dropdowns on phones and with a keyboard. If a submenu appears only when someone hovers over it, people without a mouse may not be able to use it. Try opening and closing each menu by keyboard, then test it on a phone; don’t assume a tap works like a desktop click. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines overview offers broader context on making web content usable with different input methods.
Let section pages handle the detail
A menu link should lead somewhere helpful, not dump visitors into another long list. A Tutorials page might offer a beginner route, a few technique routes and recent projects with descriptive titles. A Stamping page could separate basic stamping, heat embossing and coloring stamped images. That gives readers a way to narrow their choice without scanning dozens of unrelated posts.
A section with only one or two posts probably doesn’t need its own menu entry or landing page yet. Keep those posts under a broader destination and link to them where they’re relevant. If a section grows into a dense list, break it into smaller choices based on what readers want to make or learn.
Help visitors recover their place
Breadcrumbs can show a route such as Home → Techniques → Stamping → Birthday Card with Layered Inks. They’re useful when someone lands directly on a tutorial and wants to see the broader section. Make sure the labels match the site’s structure; a trail leading to an empty or confusing page won’t help much.
For a long tutorial, a short table of contents can take readers straight to supplies, assembly or troubleshooting. Use headings that say what’s in each section so those jump links are useful at a glance.
Make “find more” specific to the page
The sitewide menu gets readers into the right area. Links within a post can point to the next useful step. At the end of a stencil tutorial, another project using the same technique says more than a “More posts” button. Beside a light-up card project, a beginner circuit guide may be helpful before someone tries a second design.
Offer a few distinct options, not a wall of recommendations. A marker-coloring tutorial, for instance, might point to:
- a simpler coloring project for more practice;
- a guide to choosing paper for the markers discussed;
- a card design that uses the finished image in a different layout.
Name the destination in the visible link text. “Try a simple stamped-flower card” is clearer than “Explore.” If you’re asking readers to subscribe or inquire about a custom card, treat that as a separate action, not another reading route. The guide to clear and useful cardmaking calls to action covers that distinction.
Test the choices before adding more links
Ask a few people who don’t know the site to find a beginner stamping project, a marker-coloring guide and, if you offer them, details about custom cards. Don’t tell them which menu item to use. Notice where they hesitate, take a wrong turn or read a label differently from how you intended. That tells you more than asking whether the menu looks nice.
Repeat the tasks on a narrow phone screen. Is it obvious how to open the menu? Can people read submenu labels without zooming? Once they’re in a tutorial, can they get back to its section? If you use analytics, look at which pages visitors enter through and where they go next. Those numbers are clues, not proof that a particular label caused their behavior.
Change one confusing label or route at a time, then try the task again. If people looking for light-up projects keep choosing “Techniques” and landing somewhere unrelated, clarify that destination before adding another top-level link. For your next check, start someone on an actual light-up tutorial and ask them to find a second project without using search.